Poet at Work: Walt Whitman Notebooks 1850s -1860s

This amazing site, full of primary source documents, offers a glimpse into the life and thoughts of American poet Walt Whitman. By paging through Whitman's notebooks, you can see a record of his ideas and witness lines of verse taking shape. During the Civil War Whitman often visited wounded soldiers in Washington, D.C. hospitals. His notebooks show the jottings he made of small luxuries for which the soldiers asked (a handful of figs, some raspberry syrup). The site also includes pictures that explain how the notebooks have been restored and conserved.